A tui bird (Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae) feeding. Photo by Martin Kramer, home.wxs.nl/~mkramer.

Tui bird, Parson bird
Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae

Description: The tui bird is a passerine, or perching, bird, and one of the largest members of the honeyeater family. The male tui bird's plumage is a shining metallic green with bluish-purple reflections on the shoulders, rump, and upper tail-coverts. The throat has two tufts of white and the middle of the back is bronzy brown. The male measures about 12 3/4 inches long, while the female is slightly smaller. Female tui birds have the same general coloration but the metallic tints are not so bright and there is more brown in the plumage. Tui birds are very intelligent birds and can imitate human speech. Nectar is the tui bird's primary diet but tui birds also eat fruit, insects, pollen, and seeds. Tui birds are known for their marvelous, unusual song - they can whistle, click, chuckle, gurgle, and trill. Visit Tui Time: A nature adventure with Tiaki tui to hear a tui bird's song.

Life History: Tui birds are believed to breed twice a year. Breeding season is between early spring and October. Male tui birds are territorial and perform a mating display of rising at speed in a vertical climb before stalling and dropping in a powered dive. Females build nests in the fork of a bushy shrub a few feet from the ground. A female typically lays three to four eggs that are white with a rosy hue in the center and mottled at the largest end. The young hatch almost completely bare after 14 days of incubation. Tui birds are seen singly, in pairs, or in small family groups but they will congregate in large numbers at food sources.

Habitat: Tui birds live in dense forests, but will tolerate remnant patches, regrowth, exotic plantations, and well-vegetated suburbs.

Distribution: Tui birds are endemic to New Zealand.

Status: This species is common but declining due to widespread habitat destruction and predation by mammalian invasive species.

Resources:

Tui Time: A nature adventure with Tiaki tui (New Zealand Ecological Society)

Common native birds (Kiwi Conservation Club)

New Zealand Birds: Tui (Narena Oliver, New Zealand Birds Limited)

Chatham Island Tui Recovery Plan: 2001-2011 (Department of Conservation, Wellington, New Zealand) 

Tui Bird Summary (BookRags)